Hey all, my ST seems to have developed one of the "typical" coolant leaks I've read about in previous posts. I bought the bike in October from a guy who kept it garaged. I don't have that luxury, so it's outside on the side of my house under a pretty good cover. Now that it's colder I'm getting a 1-2 minute dribble a couple minutes after start-up.
I've read many of the posts that tell me it's most likely clamps that loosen in the cold (and swell back up when it warms) and that I need to go in to either tighten the offending clamp from time to time, or replace the clamps with a Constant Torque type. My problem is I didn't really buy this bike to work on it myself, so even though the prior owner passed his Service Manual on to me I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed about "going in".
I would appreciate if someone could give me a little more specific guidance (since I still don't understand what "pop the Tupperware" means). Here's my questions:
1. In order to see the most likely leaky clamps, which of the cowls would I have to remove (lower, inner, middle, left middle, right middle)?
2. In order to tighten those clamps, would I have to disassemble any more cowls than needed to inspect?
3. The manual says the middle cowl needs a torque wrench (which I'll need to buy) PLUS I need two new Middle Cowl Bolts every time I reassemble it - is that right that new bolts are required? Or is there a work-around for that?
I appreciate any wisdom you might have to offer. I'm not a complete klutz with tools, but this bike is WAY beyond when I used to set the timing and point gaps on my old CB550 many many moons ago. Obviously if I feel too nervous about this I'm headed back to the shop for what will probably be an expensive hunting expedition...
I've read many of the posts that tell me it's most likely clamps that loosen in the cold (and swell back up when it warms) and that I need to go in to either tighten the offending clamp from time to time, or replace the clamps with a Constant Torque type. My problem is I didn't really buy this bike to work on it myself, so even though the prior owner passed his Service Manual on to me I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed about "going in".
I would appreciate if someone could give me a little more specific guidance (since I still don't understand what "pop the Tupperware" means). Here's my questions:
1. In order to see the most likely leaky clamps, which of the cowls would I have to remove (lower, inner, middle, left middle, right middle)?
2. In order to tighten those clamps, would I have to disassemble any more cowls than needed to inspect?
3. The manual says the middle cowl needs a torque wrench (which I'll need to buy) PLUS I need two new Middle Cowl Bolts every time I reassemble it - is that right that new bolts are required? Or is there a work-around for that?
I appreciate any wisdom you might have to offer. I'm not a complete klutz with tools, but this bike is WAY beyond when I used to set the timing and point gaps on my old CB550 many many moons ago. Obviously if I feel too nervous about this I'm headed back to the shop for what will probably be an expensive hunting expedition...
